Transition week

October packed it through the very end. Our remarkably clear and sunny weather continued, with a stiff, biting wind at first and then some frost when the wind died down. In anticipation of that frost/freezing, I headed out to our neglected garden to pick the last few tomatoes to ripen indoors and a passel of peppers. The beets, kale, and some volunteer parsley was left to harvest as needed; that will all keep better out there than in my small fridge.

Chioggia beets – and weeds

Redbor kale – and weeds

This daylily (Stella D'Oro) deserves a medal!

Icy grass in the pasture

The neighbors to our north started construction on their shop, which doesn't really factor into our view from the house. Lots of busy-ness over there, though!

I took this while riding in the arena

I took this one on our road from the NW corner of our property

Inside, I've been busy on that hat. I realized I hadn't followed the pattern and my cables were twisting too tightly,

so I ripped back to right after the first cross and then knit on with confidence...

finishing it today with less than two yards of yarn remaining. That's more "yarn chicken" than I'm used to playing, but it worked out just fine, probably because I put in a lifeline just in case. 😉

I loved on my Cheshire cat,

and rode my horse through coordinating leaf litter.

I took this series of photos of October's last sunrise:

and welcomed November/Wovember with sheep snuggles.

Wethers Bing and Bittersweet get more attention when Blake is off wooing Babydolls (it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!). I received this photo of him today with his current interest, Coquette, and a voyeur chicken:

The dogs are pottering along. A high point with Jackson was when he actually initiated a little playtime one evening.

While Jackson's appetite is good right now, we have to work at getting Dozer to eat.

And so it goes.

Happy November from . . .

Scrambling to the end of September

It's been an eventful end to the month of September. With full-on fall weather arriving early this year, we've been scrambling to get a few essential things done. There was the last of the firewood to pick up from Rick's client and get undercover:

(Yes, our woodshed is in serious need of rebuilding/replacing.)

The middle and upper pastures desperately needed mowing:

(It looks so much better without the long, scraggly, dead stalks! The sheep will be able to go back out and eat green, green grass again. 😍)

There's been produce to pick/purchase and prepare:

I picked one last big bowl of tomatoes-traded-for-eggs and made two more batches of condensed tomato soup, picked more garden produce at home, and picked up a locally grown 11# cabbage for a nice price. Needless to say, cabbage has been featuring in many of our meals since then. 😉

And Brian has had two more soccer games, one of them in Salem (above) and one almost three hours away in Redmond. The drive up the Cascades for the second one was stunning, with blue skies overhead and red Vine Maples glowing like wildfire under the conifers. Not being able to stop for pictures was so hard, but I had three players in my car that needed to get to the game on time. The best I could do was hand my iPhone to  Brian so he could snap one through the windshield:

Last Friday Rick brought home two heaping boxes of apples from his mother's trees; for some reason hers produced this year when ours didn't. I was planning to turn them into sauce and pie filling on Sunday, but a messy, ongoing washing machine crisis sucked up all my time and energy.

Saturday night we lit the first fire in our insert; the temps have gotten downright brisk! I kept it going through this morning; the dogs seemed to enjoy it. Of course, laying around is what both of them do most of the time anymore anyway. I have to coax them to go outside, and coax them to eat. 😔

When petting Jackson I stumbled upon what felt like a crusty scab on his neck just about his chest. That's where his fur is the thickest, so it took some work to get at it and finally remove both the crusty scab and what caused it.

Ugh; one of those NASTY foxtail awns had imbedded itself in my poor dog! I feel so bad that Jackson was dealing with that along with the discomfort and decreased mobility from his arthritis. Glad I found and removed it, so the festering hole in his neck could heal up!

This is pretty long already, so I'll try to do a colorful post tomorrow to welcome October.

Sayonara September, from . . .

Cloudscapes, pupdate

The showers and clouds we've had this month are greening up our world seemingly overnight. And while there are touches of fall color here and there, most of the deciduous leaves are still green, like fall took the trees by surprise.

I am always looking up at the gorgeous clouds – they turn a plain, blue sky into a skyscape, or cloudscape. Add a touch of color from rising or setting sun, and I swoon.

I haven't said anything about the dogs lately. After encouraging improvement, Jackson plateaued a few weeks ago, and since then has slowed down again, moving less and laying down more. Strangely enough, he hardly ever chooses a soft spot. I watch him, trying to evaluate how he's dealing with the arthritis in his spine, and love on him often.

Dozer, the 'king of cush,' is also slowing down – which, given his usual state of animation means that he's basically comatose. It's difficult to rouse him to go outside or go to bed, and he's not even that inspired by mealtimes, even though both dogs are still getting their kibble top-dressed with canned food and a little hot water, stirred in to make an appetizing gravy. I half-expect Dozer to die in his sleep; Jackson will probably force a much more difficult decision.

I have window-shopped for dogs and puppies as a way of looking beyond the coming heartbreak. I wouldn't subject our old men to a new dog but couldn't face a dogless home for very long. I've wanted to adopt a retired racing greyhound since my early 20s, but they are getting harder to find. While looking I got interested in Windsprites, which are basically long-haired whippets so very similar in type. I found a breeder not too far away and even got approved for one of the puppies she had available, but like I said, that's not fair to the old men . . . and I couldn't afford one anyway. I tracked down the breeder of a neighbor's Decker rat terrier brothers; they are planning a winter litter and I asked them to contact me if that happens. (Help with ground squirrels and mice would be much appreciated!) I contacted the bulldog rescue from which we got Dozer, and right now they have quite a few available, including puppies. Then I found some retired racers and sent in an application to be approved for one of them, just to keep my options open. Who knows what we'll end up with, and when!

After a soggy couple of weeks I wasn't sure there would be anything left in my garden, but actually there is quite a bit. Yesterday afternoon I harvested tomatoes, kale and basil for a FAB vegetable stew I made for supper. Today I picked rhubarb, the last of the onions, cucumbers, and zucchini, some sweet peppers, yellow pear tomatoes, more basil and volunteer parsley, most of which is slated for tomorrow's potluck contributions. There's still sweet peppers, eggplant, beets, basil, and tomatoes left to pick, so there'll be more good eating from the garden for awhile yet.

Today my farrier came to trim the horses and we talked sheep, as we often do (he and his wife raise Border Leicesters and Texels, and he used to shear my Shetlands). He gave me two skeins of yarn from their flock, one from each breed. They passed the 'neck test' for me; I think I'll knit them each a hat!

The plan to send Blaise (front right, first photo) and Sarai (front, second photo) off on a honeymoon with a handsome Shetland man is firming up. The ram is a polled, fine-fleeced black gulmoget who won Champion Ram honors under a visiting Scottish judge a few years ago, so I have high hopes for black-based patterned lambs from these two. Sarai is my oldest ewe and losing her incisors, so this will likely be her last breeding; crossing my fingers for two keepers from her. This will be five-year-old Blaise's first breeding (not for lack of desire on her part!); the ram's owner wants Blaise or a gulmoget ewe lamb from her so hopefully she'll oblige with a girl or two.

Have a great weekend!

That's it for now from . . .